Most singer-songwriters want to build a fanbase, and the speed with which that base grows is usually seen as an indicator of general success. If you’re putting good music out there, of consistently excellent quality, your base will grow, and should do so quickly. If, however, your fanbase is growing slowly, don’t automatically assume that you’re […]
These days, many or most songs that are produced for broad commercial appeal (i.e., hit songs in the pop genres) use melodies written by “topliners.” A typical scenario might be that a producer sends out a pre-made instrumental track to musicians who can create melodies over these tracks. Someone comes up with melodies and lyrics to […]
Today’s world of pop music can be a very insular one, in the sense that many “discoveries” pop musicians make about what people like aren’t really new after all. I’ve posted an article from the New Yorker recently, called “The Sound Machine,” about how hits are written today. In that article, Jay Brown (president of Roc Nation) said: “You’ve […]
Writing music wouldn’t hold a lot of interest for us if everything was completely predictable. We like the fact that we think we’ve written something others will like too, but then we must wait and see what the final impact on an audience is. Over the past number of decades of pop music, there have been […]
The best songwriters are the ones that experience music in the most ways. ___________ Buy “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” eBook Bundle, and get back to songwriting excellence. ___________ Follow me on this one: Every once in a while, I sit back here in my office and look around me at everything that’s been made by […]
Get “The Essential Secrets of Songwriting” 10-eBook Bundle, along with a FREE copy of “Creative Chord Progressions.” _____________ One of the reasons bands, singer-songwriters and other recording musicians hire producers is because they are able to listen to the music objectively and make decisions that the writer might be unable to make. A producer can tailor your song […]
